Motor-vehicle.



No. 766,414. PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904. L. BOLLEE. MOTOR VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 8, 1908.

I0 MODE Patented August 2, 1904.

UNTTET) STATES PATENT @FFICE.

LEON BoLLnn, on LE DIANS, FRANCE.

MOTOR-VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,414, dated August 2, 1904.

Application filed August 3, 1903. Serial No. 168,005. No modeln Improvements in Motor-Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a motor-car frame the driving and driven parts of which are mounted so as to avoid abnormal strains taking place when, owing to the twisting of the frame of the car, the shafts do not remain absolutely in line and the longitudinal frame members or girders themselves do not remain parallel. The mechanical arrangement and combination adopted in order to arrive at the result desired comprise three main features: first, the attachment of the engine .to the frame; second, the attachment of the gearbox; third, the connection of these parts.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan of the whole of a frame on which the various parts are arranged according to this invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view of one of the lateral connections between the engine-support and the frame of the car. Fig. 3 is a similar partial longitudinal section of the attachment of the front portion of the said support to the frame. Fig. fl: is a crosssection of the frame, showing connection between the gear-box and the two longitudinal frame members. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a device used for connecting the front bottom part of the gear-box to the frame. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view, and Fig. 7 a partial longitudinal section, of the arrangement adopted for connecting the engine and the driven shaft.

According to this invention the engine 8, Fig. 1, is suspended at two opposite points on the longitudinal frame members or of the underframe by the two brackets or lugs 9 of its crank-case. which lugs are clamped to the under side of the said longitudinal frame members or girders. This method of attachment is shown in detail in Fig. 2. The engine is further supported at a point in the center of the front cross-brace 10 by means either of a third lug of the same kind as those described above or, better, by means of a pivotpin 11, mounted with slight amount of friction in bearing 12, secured to the front portion of the frame 10, Fig. 3. This pin may be made hollow in order to afford passage of a handle 13 for starting the engine.

The rear lugs or brackets 9 of the crankcase 8 are secured to the frame 10 near the point of contact of the latter with a convex surface 16, by means of bolts 14:, with springwashers 15, which secure the engine to the frame, at the same time allowing a small displacement of the convex surface 16 on the frame 10 during its twisting.

The front pin 11 can be fixed directly to the crank-case 8 itself or to a frame 17, forming an extension of the engine. The points of suspension at the back can be either the ends of the lugs or brackets of the engine or a portion of the frame 17, just mentioned, as long as the engine is suspended in three points, as described.

The gear-box, as well as the engine, is suspended at three points to the car-frame 10, for the same reasons as those explained above.

The best and the simplest arrangement is to extend the gear-box 18 on one side by means of a tube 19 of sufficient strength for supporting it without bending, and to extend it on the other side, first of all, by means of a kind of housing 20, intended to receive the drum of the brake, and then by a sleeve or tube 21, similar to that 19. These two tubes 19 and 21 are mounted freely in bearings 22 23, secured to the frame 10 of the car. In front the gearbox is suspended by a rod 2%, having ball-joint connections with the parts 25 and Q6. The two tubes 19 21 of the gear-box carry at their outer ends bearings 27 28 for the counter-shaft sprockets 29, transmitting the power, also with attachment-lugs for the radius-rods and the brake pull-rods. By this arrangement no twisting of the frame can affect the bearings in the gear-box, and these bearings never have to bear any portion of the weight of the box itself.

As the various deformations of the frame are capable of displacing the engine crankshaft relatively to the counter-shaft, it is necessary to connect these two shafts by a third shaft, which is flexible. As in consequence this shaft cannot be normal to the plane of the fly-wheel, it is advisable that the portion of clutch mounted on the said shaft should not be forced to turn in a plane normal to the said connecting-shaft, but, on the contrary, be capable of rotating in a plane normal to the engine-- shaft. This is effected by placing at the rear of the connecting-shaft 30 either a universal joint or a jaw-coupling 31. At the other end of the shaft 30 the clutch member 32 is mounted, by means of a universal joint 4E4, on asleeve 33, on which acts the clutch-spring 3 When it is desired to throw the engine out of gear, this cone is operated by means of a fork 35, which must necessarily follow all the movements of the connecting-shaft 30. For this purpose a fulcrum is made at 36. A rod 37 is connected to a hinge-joint 38 of the fork 35, hinged to a sleeve 33, forming a ball -andsocket joint. Finally, at 40 another ball-andsocket joint connects another rod 41, connected to the lever 42, operated by the clutch-pedal 13.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is

1. In a motor-vehicle the combination of a frame, an engine supported at three points on said frame, a speed-gear also supported at three points on said frame, a friction-clutch between the engine and the speed-gear, a flexible connection between the friction-clutch and the speed-gear and means for transmitting the power from said speed-gear to the drivingwheels substantially as set forth.

2. In a motor-vehicle the combination of a frame, an engine supported pivotally on the front member and resiliently on the side members of said frame, a speed-gear supported at three points on said frame, a flexible connection between the engine and the speed-gear, a clutch between the engine and the speedgear, means for operating said clutch and means for transmitting the power from said speed-gear to the driving-wheels substantially one end by a flexible connection from the frame and at its two sides by sliding bearings on the frame, speed-gear contained in said gearbox, a flexible connection between the engine and the speed-gear, a clutch between the engine and the speed-gear, means for operating said clutch and means for transmitting power from the gear-box to the driving-wheels substantially as set forth.

4L. In a motor-vehicle the combination of a frame, an engine supported by a hollow central pivot on the front member and resiliently and flexibly on the side frame members, a gear-box supported in front by a flexible connection and at its side in sliding bearings on the side members of the frame, a flexible shaft connecting the engine to the speed-gear in said gear-box, a sliding clutch-sleeve on said shaft, a clutch universally .mounted on said shaft, means for operating said clutch, and means for transmitting the power from said speed-gear to the driving-wheels substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEON BOLLEE.

Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS E. INGRAM, JEAN RoBELE'r. 

